CFP: Demystifying the Caliphate: Advocates, Opponents and Implications for Europe

Demystifying the Caliphate: Advocates, Opponents and Implications for Europe

Workshop a King’s College, London, 12-13 November 2010

We writing to invite you to present a paper at our forthcoming workshop Demystifying the Caliphate: Advocates, Opponents and Implications for Europe, to be held at King’s College London on 12-13 November 2010.

The workshop aims to investigate the controversial revival of the concept of the Caliphate in the Muslim world and Europe. While many academic publications have dealt with the historical rise and fall of the Islamic Caliphate up to the twentieth century, no substantial scholarly work on its current revival has appeared. With the exception of a few case studies, the topic has not been addressed in historical and social scientific perspectives. This conference promises to fill a gap in our understanding of the contemporary debates, mobilization and advocacies that take place among Muslims in different contexts and asks whether there are certain new conditions that prompt contemporary Muslims to mobilise along demands for the revival of this mode of political governance.

The workshop is an interdisciplinary project that brings historians and social scientists to discuss debates on the Caliphate in different regional and geographical areas. It also aims to bridge the gap between scholars in the Muslim world and those working on the Muslim Diaspora. The workshop will have four panels:

Historical Debates on the Caliphate
Controversies in the Middle East and North Africa
The Caliphate in Asia
Contemporary Revival among European Diaspora Muslims.

If you would like to contribute, please email Dr. Marat Shterin at marat.shterin@kcl.ac.uk by the 22nd of February 2010.

The workshop proceedings will be published by Hurst and Co in an edited volume. If you decide to contribute, we will ask you to send us a 7000-8000 word paper by15 September 2010. Papers will be circulated among conference participants prior to the meeting. Participants will have 25 min for an oral presentation, followed by a 30 min discussion.

The workshop is sponsored by the European Science Foundation. We will be able to cover travel, accommodation and hospitality in London for those who will present papers. We also have a limited number of non-sponsored places for general participants.

In particular, we’re looking for two scholars from European countries to present at the panel on Europe.